Frame of Mind (episode)
Riker thinks he's going insane when he can't tell what's real and what isn't. Summary Act 1 Commander William Riker is in a play, rehearsing on the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)|USS Enterprise-D]] with Commander Data. It is a dark story of an insane man, who is trapped in an insanity ward, where the doctors torture him. After a short but excellent performance, he breaks it, not sure if he is right for the part. Doctor Beverly Crusher reassures him that he is. He repeats his lines in the corridor, making several other people wonder about him. But when he gets into the turbolift, he sees an alien in a science officer's uniform he has never seen before. He ignores it at the moment. During his next briefing with Captain Jean-Luc Picard informs them that they wil be going to Tilonus IV. Their government has fallen to anarchy, and there was a Federation research team on the planet. Riker's mission is to find where they are hiding from the factions and contact them. Commander Worf's briefing is informative, but forceful. He wants to make sure Riker knows every single word. During the demonstration of how to perform a blade-waving ceremony, Worf accidentally cuts Riker's face, requiring him to go to sickbay. Doctor Crusher heals the wound perfectly, but is surprised when it continues to pain him. Unfortunately, she has to deal with another medical emergency when a crewman enters and a plasma torch blew up in his face. As the medical staff are treating him, Riker just looks at him, and sees blame in his eyes. Later, he tells Counselor Deanna Troi about this and several other times people have been staring at him. He has been feeling restless and uneasy. She advises that it is nothing to worry about; he is not used to the feelings the role requires him to explore. He should not be concerned. He looks behind her to see the alien again. He asks Troi about him, but she doesn't see him. He decides to check the personnel logs tomorrow. During the play, Riker performs very well. He uses his emotions to great success. But when everyone applauds for his performance, he sees the alien in the next row, not clapping. Suddenly, as he looks at the background of the room in his ward, the alien appears behind him. When he turns, he is astonished to find he is in the real room. Acts 2 - 4 When he asks what happened in an accusing way, the doctor sighs, and attempts to determine the cause of his relapse; he is here for having delusions that he is on the Enterprise. He asks Riker a long list of questions, to find surprising answers. Riker doesn't know who he is, but his memories of the ship are vivid. At the doctor's suggestion, he is reminded (and remembers) that they contacted an Admiral at Starbase 29, and they had never heard of him. The doctor standing before him continues reminding him of things that really happened. He tried to escape, and hit his head on the door, which is why it hurts. But Riker is still wondering about all this. He still doesn't know where he is or why he is here. The doctor, Syrus answers where he is, in ward 47, but will not explain why. He simply compliments Riker on his excellent progress and leaves. The attendants soon arrive, and take him to the cafeteria for lunch, through a corridor with sounds of screams and angry doctors marching by. In the cafeteria, no one is eating. All are being games or building crafts. The attendant sits him down, and fetches his lunch. One of the other inmates comes over to talk to him. She explains that she was also a Starfleet officer, and she and several more on the ''Yorktown'' were captured and brought them here. She says she has made a communicator, and will ask for a beam out. However, the communicator turns out to be a spoon. The attendant watches him while he eats, and makes jokes about Riker's mental state. Riker begins to remember things, but the picture is incomplete, so he asks the guard. He says that Riker was brought in screaming, his hands and clothes covered with blood, and that he mutilated someone in addition to killing him. That is something Riker doesn't remember. When the guard further provokes him, Riker jumps up and grabs him by the throat, making another guard rush over and sedate him with a very large needle. That is when he wakes up in his quarters on the Enterprise. Riker tells Doctor Crusher about all this. She is astonished; opening night concerns are one thing, but this is quite unusual. She hopes that night they also get a standing ovation. It is one hour before curtain. He performs the play a second time, except this time, he sees the alien in the window, just for a split second. Doctor Crusher has to remind him of his lines. He then starts hearing noise off the stage as everyone continues to watch. Data continues, and finishes the scene, but Riker sees the alien doctor in the audience again. This time, Riker is feeling bold, so he singles out the alien, and demands to know what is going on. He grabs the audience member by the shoulders to find it is Lt. Suna. Crusher scans him, and cannot find a cause of the hallucinations. There are no drugs in his system, nothing strange happened in the performance. She tells him to get some rest so that he can recover from all this. Despite his surprising turn at the end, his performance was excellent. According to Data, they considered it an improvisation to draw in the audience. On his way to his quarters, he hears the doctor's voice, telling him he needs another treatment, and after getting in the turbolift, he sees him again. He closes his eyes, tells himself that it is not real, and the doctor disappears. On his way, he sees Jaya, the inmate. When he runs to his quarters, and the door closes behind him, he turns, and finds he is back in the cell. He talks to the doctor, explaining that he wants to be here; reality isn't real on the ship. He still isn't sure if he killed someone, but the doctor finds this encouraging. However, the Doctor has bad news. The case must be decided one way or another within a few weeks. They will use reflection therapy to determine if he is fit to stand trial. It's not painful, just interacting with holographic projections. If the therapy fails, then synaptic reconstruction will be necessary, an irreversible medical procedure. He talks about his feelings, a manifestation being created from each, and each manifestation being a member of the crew. Worf is anger, Troi is fear, Picard is his attempt to rationalize, and the alien — who it is now revealed as Mr. Suna, the hospital administrator — is the one who attacked him. That is when his reflections take a left turn. They all try to convince him that the Enterprise is reality, he is in danger, and he is being tricked. He finally tells them no, and they disappear. The doctor says he has made progress, and they will continue later. When he is eating, Doctor Crusher in drab clothing walks over and sits down at his table. He tries to ignore her, but it doesn't work. She explains that he was on an undercover mission, he supposedly killed someone, and the crew is being blocked at every turn to try and get him back. The crew is attempting to unravel a conspiracy. His instructions are to sit tight. No one else seems to see her, so he tells himself it is not real. After some sleep, he starts hearing noises. Data, Worf, and Crusher appear in commando clothing, and try to break him out. He shouts, but they take him by force, and before they can get down the corridor, armed guards protect him. Data and Worf fight them off, and Riker tries to run away. They grab him, and transport him against his will to the Enterprise. He just stares as Crusher gives his diagnosis. Someone has been access with his long term memory, and he is in neural shock. Picard tells him that he was abducted during the mission, and put in a psychiatric ward, as Crusher heals an identical cut on the left side of his face, which still hurts. It starts bleeding again. He suddenly gets the sense that none of this is real, so he knocks down Worf and grabs his phaser. If it is not real, he explains, when he shoots himself, nothing will happen. He does. Everything shatters. He is back in his cell, the doctor telling the attendants about his failure to respond to reflection therapy. He broke out of his cell, and ran down the corridor, telling them that he was being taken back to his starship. The doctor concludes he will have to perform the synaptic reconstruction. He can't figure out why he still has a phaser. The doctor says it is a knife, and his wound still hurts. He shoots Mavek, who shatters. He tries to piece it together- he can't die, other illusions are destroyable. None of this is real, he concludes. He sets it to level 16, and fires. He is back in the play, but Suna is still here. He starts demanding answers, and refusing to answer questions. He blasts again. He wakes up on a table, a probe in the side of his head, two Tilonians talking about neural drain. He gets up, holds them off with a knife, and beams himself aboard. Picard explains the story, and Riker remembers it. He was abducted in an alley. They attacked him from behind, he tried to fight them off with the ceremonial knife Worf gave him. He was injected with something. Picard concluded that they were attempting to extract information from him. Troi explains that everything he saw was a defense mechanism, which would allowed his mind to keep its sanity. He decides to take down the stage himself, since the play was performed, and he couldn't sleep knowing it was still up. Background Information * Andrew Prine and Susanna Thompson later appear in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. They play Turrel ( ) and Lenara Kahn ( ) respectively. Thompson later takes Alice Krige's place as the Borg Queen in three episodes of Star Trek: Voyager. Links and References Guest Stars *David Selburg as Syrus *Andrew Prine as Suna *Gary Werntz as Mavek *Susanna Thompson as Jaya *Allan Dean Moore as Wounded Crew Member References dermal regenerator; Frame of Mind (play); nisroh; protoplaser; Spiny lobe-fish; Tilonus Institute for Mental Disorders; ''Yorktown'', USS |next= }} Category:TNG episodes de:Phantasie oder Wirklichkeit? es:Frame of Mind nl:Frame of Mind